The UK economy is slowing down apparently. I read in the Guardian newspaper that the projected GDP figure for the second quarter is around 0.1%. I have just overheard a conversation in my local pub that people are being made redundant in the neighbourhood. This brings it home.
Hard times are ahead.
In fact they have never really gone away. Britain has got off lightly compared with some other parts of the industrialized world in recent years but even so 'The recovery' we are supposed to be experience has been slow in coming and the benefits unevenly spread, if felt at all.
So as a writer how do I react?
I read what I can. I listen and I learn. I am currently reading a book called 'Chronicles of our troubled times' by the French economist Thomas Piketty. It is written in as a collection of bite sized articles and is concerned with the political economy of the US and EU from the Credit Crunch of 2007/8 through to the current day. Thomas Piketty provides insights into his view of events and some potential solutions. They are not popular ones. I agree with some of his suggestions but not others. I do think, however, it is important to study these things in detail and retain an open mind.
The other thing I do as a writer is, well to write about it. Piketty gives one solution to the Eurozone debt crisis. The 'Europeanisation' of some of the sovereign debt into 'Eurobonds.' This sounds sensible. There may be others with better ideas but I haven't seen these yet. We live in a interconnected world and so many of our problems have shared origins so perhaps the solutions need to be common as well? Just a thought.
So, I won't apologise if I occasional comment on these issues on this blog. We all have a responsibility to educated and discuss these matters. Lets hope that the clouds over the world economy clear soon. Until then we should all be thinking hard about how we can be part of the solution.
And this is especially the case for writers or those with ideas to share.
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